St. Louis Blues

By Tk Published on July 01, 2002.

Eric Tilford, a founding partner of St. Louis advertising/design shop Core, is making a monochromatic splash in a collaboration with local fine-artist Tony Gaddis. The two have been working since 1998 on a project entitled "See Through Walls " with the intention of creating a book (coming soon) and an accompanying exhibition of cyanotype prints, which combine the disciplines of drawing, painting, photography and graphic design, Tilford says. "Cyanotype is a rudimentary form of photographic printmaking invented approximately 150 years ago," he explains. "It's like a black and white print, except the cyanotype process yields only blue tones. We were pulling imagery from so many different sources that we needed the medium to help us achieve some continuity, some control." Why the confusion of imagery? "We live in a culture where we're surrounded by everything all the time. In many ways, this body of work is a reflection of, and a response to, the constant onslaught of stimuli. Many of the historical references we're drawing from are powerful collective triggers. Connecting seemingly disparate sources such as Bacchus and Red Bull, or the Buddha and a 1969 Dodge Super Bee coupe, helped us to create a visual language that rubs up against the human condition in a fresh way." The exhibition recently closed at the Des Lee Gallery in St. Louis, and will move on to San Diego in the fall.